UTC vs GMT

Did you know that there is a difference between GMT and UTC even though they share the same current time? In short, GMT is an actual time zone, whereas UTC is a time standard that is used to keep time synchronized across the world.

Since Coordinated Universal Time or UTC is a standard, there is no time zone, territory or country that uses it for a local time. Greenwich Mean Time or GMT is the official time zone used in that region, which runs through several European and African countries.

Coordinated Universal Time is named as such because it is the standard by which all time zones are based. Contrary to popular belief, UTC is a standard even though it is mistaken for a time zone, which it is not.

World timing centers across the globe have decided to keep their local clocks synchronized with the UTC standard. Other time zones are designated by the hourly difference between Coordinated Universal Time.

GMT and Daylight Saving Time

Believe it or not, neither the GMT time zone nor the UTC standard are affected by Daylight Saving Time or DST. To account for this, some countries in the GMT time zone actually switch to another zone during Daylight Saving. For instance, during summer months the UK switches from GMT to British Summer Time or BST.